Articles

Timothee Chalamet was inspired to pursue a Hollywood career after meeting Kid Cudi.

The actor has been catapulted into the spotlight following his performances in critically acclaimed movies including Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird and Luca Guadagnino's Call Me by Your Name.

But it wasn't an actor who convinced Timothee to consider performing, but Day 'n' Nite hitmaker Cudi, whom he met after a concert around four years ago.

"I really liked this rapper Kid Cudi a lot," he said during an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden on Thursday night (30Nov17). "I'd missed his tour stop in New York so I took a 12-hour train ride to Montreal. I got in touch with the producer that I'd worked with on a short film, that had worked with him on a film, and said, 'Is there any way you could set me up backstage with him?'"

Timothee managed to secure the meeting, though was certain it would be a "selfie and run" situation. However, their chat genuinely affected the rising star and spurred him on to give professional acting a try.

"They say don't meet your heroes, so I thought it was going to be a take a selfie and run kind of thing. And he really inspired me to be an artist in a lot of ways, which sounds cheesy," the 21-year-old shared.

During a recent interview to promote Call Me by Your Name on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, host Ellen managed to dig up a clip of Timothee rapping as a teenager. He later gave up on his hip-hop dreams, but revealed to James that he certainly had some original rap names up his sleeve.

"It varied, sometimes it was Timmy Tim, sometimes it was Little Timmy Tim," he laughed.